 | This article needs attention from an expert in physics. The specific problem is: this article has some interesting ideas in it, but some of it is wrong, and a lot of it reads like an attempt by someone without deep expertise to summarize half-understood stuff that they've read. (June 2015) |
In theoretical physics, the problem of time is a conceptual conflict between quantum mechanics and general relativity. Quantum mechanics regards the flow of time as universal and absolute, whereas general relativity regards the flow of time as malleable and relative.[1][2] This problem raises the question of what time really is in a physical sense and whether it is truly a real, distinct phenomenon. It also involves the related question of why time seems to flow in a single direction, despite the fact that no known physical laws at the microscopic level seem to require a single direction.[3]
- ^ Isham, C. J. (1993), Ibort, L. A.; Rodríguez, M. A. (eds.), "Canonical Quantum Gravity and the Problem of Time", Integrable Systems, Quantum Groups, and Quantum Field Theories, NATO ASI Series, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 157–287, arXiv:gr-qc/9210011, doi:10.1007/978-94-011-1980-1_6, ISBN 978-94-011-1980-1, S2CID 116947742, retrieved 2021-01-04
- ^ Wolchover, Natalie (December 1, 2016). "Quantum Gravity's Time Problem". Quanta Magazine.
- ^ Folger, Tim (June 12, 2007). "Newsflash: Time May Not Exist". Discover.